The places of Salento

Copertino is a large agricultural, commercial and handicraft centre located a few kilometres south-west of Lecce. The inhabited centre was founded around the year 1000 by the refugees of some farmhouses destroyed by the Saracens in 942. The village developed during the Byzantine domination and grew even more under the Angevins.

Among the most interesting monuments of Copertino, you can admire the Castle, which still amazes today for its powerful structure and its elegance. Designed by the architect Evangelista Menga and completed in 1540, it includes a fortress built in Norman times and later enlarged by the Angevins.The Matrix Church of the Madonna della Neve, whose original structure dates back to 1088, but which was rebuilt in the sixteenth century and still in the eighteenth century.

The church of Santa Maria di Casole, built by the Basilian monks around 1200 near the then existing agricultural village of Casole. Following Turkish attacks, it was rebuilt in the sixteenth century and this is what we see today.

The construction of the Sanctuary of St. Joseph of Covert goes back to 1754-58.

The Saint's house is currently in front of the church itself and is often reached by pilgrims and devotees.

St. Joseph of Copertino is known to be the "Saint who flies", for this reason he is also the protector of the aviators, as well as of the Anglo-Saxon aviation. Equally, this saint is also the protector of students.

San Giuseppe da Copertino is celebrated in the village every 18th September with the so-called Intorciata, a long procession that crosses the main streets of the town with songs and band.